


The Diary of Link (Very Original, I know, Revali's Spirit)

by Amenaangharad



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Link's diary, Post-Great Plateau
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 00:30:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14032209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amenaangharad/pseuds/Amenaangharad
Summary: This is a translation of what historians believe is the diary of one of the Chosen Heroes of Farore. The author of the translation makes no claims to its authenticity.~Link finds a diary in the ruins of the Hyrule Garrison when trying to climb the Central Tower. Unable to bring himself to speak of the even heavier burdens he now carries, Link unloads in the diary of one of his brothers-in-arms everything that the silent champion must carry on his shoulders. Can he truly be whomever he was in the past once more? Or is that man gone forever, just like the Hyrule of old, as well as this Zelda woman whose name tugs at his heartstrings? We finally have access to the champion's innermost thoughts, most of which were never spoken aloud.





	1. Book One: The Return: The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This will reflect my run of BOTW, so apologies if I don't do things in the "right" order.

_This is a translation from the earliest beginnings of modern Hylian with much of the grammatical structure retaining the ancient tongue’s ways. Many of the words and phrases no longer exist in the modern Hylian’s vocabulary, and as such, have been roughly translated to their equivalent. The author of this translation makes no claims to the validity of this journal as to its contents being written by or associated with the Hero of the Wild, also known as the Resurrected Hero, the Born Again Hero, the Hero of Hyrule, the Hero Chosen by the Goddess, the Hero of Twilight, the Wielder of the Triforce of Courage, and the Hylian Champion or any of his predecessors. It seems impossible that such a oft-sung hero could have written his thoughts down for future generations to know the truth of the Hero who was bitten on the heel and rose again. However, this remains for the reader to decide what once happened over one hundred years ago. Did the Goddess truly utilize the technology gifted to the brilliant minds of the ancient Sheikah to bring Hyrule to its knees in repentance for forgetting Din, Nayru, and Farore as well as waning worship of her Grace Hylia? Did she allow Farore’s Champion to not deliver the final blow and keep Nayru’s Champion locked away in what we now call Hyrule Castle for yet another century? Until the Goddesses speak to us, we shall never truly know._

* * *

 

     I found this journal tucked away at the Hyrule Garrison, or should I say its ruins, as I tried to climb the Central Tower. The identity of this poor soul to whom this used to belong is unknowable; the runes were unclear as to his name. Whoever he was, he has my sincerest apologies for treading upon and defiling his innermost thoughts, but I need a release. It has been approximately fourteen suns, _(do they still call them suns?)_ , since I awoke, and I have traveled all throughout the southeast of Hyrule. I found a strange connection to the land that I assume to be the familiarity of one’s homeland, though I cannot say. I cannot say anything about from whence I came, who my father was, his father before him, how our family started, who my mother was, who her mother was, back to her family’s founding. I know nothing. Anyways, after I paraglided off of the Great Plateau, I headed towards the clearest and nearest structure, the Bridge of Hylia. There I found a shrine, fought my first lizalfos _(I extremely dislike their ability to swim. Makes them harder to kill.)_ , climbed the Lake Tower, and I still don’t know who I am. So far, I have activated the Lake, Faron, Lanayru, Hateno, and Dueling Peaks Towers. These regions seem familiar yet so far out of reach,as if they are out of a dream. Or perhaps I am. Din knows. His Grace, the King of Hyrule _(it seems as though I know how to act and what to say, what do do and how to do it, but for the life of me, I cannot recall why)_ begged me to save Hyrule and his daughter, but I really didn’t know what to do. I have all of this skill at my fingertips, yet no tangible, innate purpose. I simply can’t go to see Impa and then save Zelda without knowing who I truly am. I can't.


	2. Meetings and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link finally meets Impa and plans to go to Zora's domain. While forced to stop at a stable due to inclement weather, some introspection does the hero good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Link is very introspective and an acute observer, for the most part anyway, due to his choice not to speak. This leads to a deep analysis of everything. Zelda would be jealous.

     I finally met Impa. She was...intense. Old and wise, but intense. She, yet again, charged me with saving Zelda and the world. She asked me if I was willing to risk everything. Am I willing to risk everything? Yes. Do I want to? Absolutely not. Ganon took my memories, my life, my very being from me. I have explored all the regions of Hyrule, searching for some familiarity, and I have seen the destruction his anger and hatred caused. For that alone, he will pay with his life — regardless of princess, king, and kingdom. I told Impa that I would fight the evil of this world and she remarked that I was “still a hero”. I don’t know if that is true. I don’t remember who I am, so how can I save my fellow children of the Goddesses? I failed them. I’ve seen the ruins of villages, laid waste to by guardians meant to protect them. The garrisons of soldiers, my brothers in arms, slaughtered at the Calamity’s behest. I don’t know this princess or king or Sheikah leader. I don’t care for them more than any other being, be it Hylian, Rito, Zora, Goron, or Gerudo. Does that make me a coward? That I’d rather save a villager than the princess?  There are days when I pack enough provisions for my horse, myself, and a stranger in need, and set off to keep the roads in a region clear of Ganon’s monsters. I ignore the shrines, ignore the quest, ignore everything. These people need a hero much more than some princess in my past that I cannot recall. 

     My thoughts often shift to family. My family either didn’t exist or the family I did have is gone. As I am now, I desperately desire a family; a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, a family name to give to a wife, a son, a daughter. Everything I own is either scavenged, picked up whilst adventuring in the wild, belonging to someone else before monsters stole it from kills, or bought from money scrounged up from chests, items found in chests and then sold, and from that one moon’s face rotation  _ (That’s one phrase I know they still use, as a man obsessed with the moon once used it )  _ I went hunting up in the Hebra mountain range where I used nearly all of my wood, arrows, and flint. I don’t own anything from a normal life, one where I am paid wages for an honest day’s work with tools inherited from my father or bartered for when I began my trade. I own nothing I have a connection to. 

     The Zora people seem to be in the most perilous predicament, what with the continuous rain flooding the reservoir and eroding all the stone work the Domain seems to be made out of. When I was made to climb the Lanayru tower, I was stopped by several Zora asking me to meet a Prince Sidon. I refused politely each time, saying that I couldn’t possibly meet such a person as I am. One commented on my accent, saying that it sounded like I was from the South with a Caer-like lilt to it. _(Note from the author: Caer here is the closest translation for the Zora word for castle without losing proper meaning. A caer is a castle that is fortress like in defense as Hyrule Castle has been since its inception.)_ I paused to ask her what that meant. The lady told me that Northern and Southern Hyrule were vastly different in climate, tongue, culture, and speech. She was a good friend of a travelling merchant with an accent similar to mine, she said, and he had told her all about Hyrule. I was most intrigued about the Gorons she told me about. They have a strict and exclusive system no matter the fact that they are a friendly race to outsiders. They don’t call outsiders ‘brothers’ unless the title was earned by beating a Goron in a wrestling match or by saving them from a catastrophe, a feat managed only by a few of the past incarnations of the Hero Chosen by the Goddess. Evidently her favorite incarnation had to have been the Hero Steeped in Twilight, information I did not need to know. My interest in Goron culture came from how it seemed familiar to me, as if I had led an extremely regimented life at one point yet it was also a life wherein I was friendly to the sage and the stranger. I quickly shook off the desire to go to Goron City and instead asked her again about my accent. She said that my words came from the more relaxed villages in the South, many of which had not even ruins left to testify to their existence, yet I had a control and diction that had to have come from being around the Caer in its glory days gone by. “You must have had family that escaped the Calamity and moved to the South, never forgetting their words”, she mused, seemingly in her own little world. I quickly thanked her and excused myself to continue my day of finding shrines. I would ponder the Zora predicament around whatever campfire I would make that night so long as there was no Hylia-forsaken rain!

    Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, I was planning my excursion into the Zora Domain. I somehow knew that shock arrows would work well in the wet climate and so I bought up the entire stock at both Gerudo Town,  _ (not going to explain how I got in there) _ , and Lurelin Village. I would only use them if I had to as I had a very limited supply and an unknown number of enemies. I did a small canvassing of the Zora’s Domain this morning before I returned to the nearby Wetland Stable to plan how I would go about maneuvering through the area. As expedient as it would be to ignore the Prince Sidon and just go to the Domain, I know that it isn’t proper or kind to ignore his pleas for help, and I need to know more about what I am facing. I will meet with him first thing once I reach the beginning of the climb. My biggest struggle is that I can’t climb. The rain never ends and so I have to traverse the area on foot; an area too rocky for a horse to properly maneuver. I’ve attempted to try to come in from both Akkala and Necluda, however as soon as  I enter Lanayru, the rain begins and I am forced to set down my paraglider for fear of being blown off into Nayru-knows-where. It is really annoying. My life was on the line so often, and all I was looking for was information. I fell from ridiculous heights with part of my brain worried that I wouldn’t be able to open my paraglider in time to save me from certain death. So my only option is to go through the mountain range. There are enemies, mostly lizalfos and a few bokoblin from what I can tell, all separated from the others in small chunks, easy to take out. However I have one major concern which is a rumor of a large camp of lizalfos with shock arrows. I dismissed it until a man was brought in who had tried to help the Zora but had ended up getting electrocuted by the arrows. I gave him one of the fairies that I collected from the Great Fairy Fountain and, coupled with some healing herb recipes, the man is on his way to a full recovery. I plan on making several electricity resistant meals with ingredients from the little statues I purchased from a traveling vendor, a few of which drop weapons and all of which drop food when touched to the Sheikah Slate. Many of the foods something in me recognized as helpful in some way or another. After this storm breaks, I’ll trek to the Domain, hopeful to avoid any confrontation possible and then help the Zora with whatever rain problem they are having. I know that Zelda told Impa to have me free the Divine beasts, but I can’t think that she would want me to pass up an opportunity to help a people. I hope that was not the kind of princess I served. 

    This session of journaling has been good for me. It has been many rotations of the moon’s face since I last wrote in here. I never know if I’ll be able to sleep through the night, much less if I’ll have down time enough to write a short novel of my adventures. Perhaps that’s what I’ll do when all of this is finished. I’ll lay down my sword and shield and draw my quill. A phrase keeps repeating through my mind,  _ the pen is mightier than the sword. _ I do hope so. This was nice, taking time to work through my confused and messed up life, and perhaps shed some light on my troubled past, or I suppose nonexistent past. But I have spent far too long writing. I need to get a decent night’s sleep and not have a cramped hand for my journey through Zorana.

 


	3. Book Two: The Breaking: After Mipha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link deals with the emotional aftermath of discovering Mipha's death and reclaiming his memories of her and some of the earlier moments of his life.

     I have not stopped to rest in nearly seven suns.  After I spent two suns climbing through Zorana and going out of my way to avoid the enemies with shock arrows, I finally reached the Domain, my clothes soaked to the bone, legs aching, and annoyed that my planned half-day trek ended up four times as long. Prince Sidon was friendly, but I was too exhausted to reciprocate his magnanimous gestures. My reaction to seeing the Lady Mipha, I am still in shock. This, this woman loved me. She was the sweetest of women, a princess in name and deed, and I forgot her. Dread, guilt, and pain wrack my body and my soul never rests. I have come to believe that I have always felt things deeply, at least from the memories that have returned to me. Some of my training as a knight and the rigor of life as a member of the royal guard. Evidently, my father was in the guard, and that had been the role of my family for generations. I don’t necessarily connect with that, though there has been a burden placed upon my shoulders by this knowledge, that I failed at what I was destined to do. And that burden is crushing, especially with all of the thoughts of Mipha that swirl around. 

     Had I loved her? I can’t tell. I can see that I cared for this princess, however I don’t think, from the memories that I have gathered so far, that she wasn’t in my heart the way I would want, no the way I  _ want _ , a wife to be, no matter the fact that she loved me that way. Maybe I could have grown to love her, in time, but where she was in my heart is where I would imagine a sister to feel. I know nothing of romantic feelings, though. I don’t know if I had romantic feelings for anyone, or if I had a family of my own. But I know, deep down in me, that Mipha didn’t deserve to die the way she did. She was good and sweet and perfect and she didn’t deserve to die! It was me, I failed, I didn’t land the killing blow that all of my past lives have landed, on more powerful incarnations of Ganondorf.  _ I  _ deserved to die. I deserve to die.  _ Farore! Why did you choose me? Why did you let me fail? Why did you let them die? All of those deaths, on my shoulders, on my hands, on my head! Let me take their place! Please, Farore, find another champion! It won’t be me! _

_      (Note from the author: There is some lettering following the hero’s despair that has been smudged but is legible. The author apologizes if the translation here is slightly inaccurate. It is the best possible product with what has been given.)  _ Mipha did  _ not _ deserve such a death. The people of Hyrule did not deserve such a fate. I screwed up. Is it not my destiny to defeat the champion of Din, as it has been since before Hyrule’s founding? Why did I fail? Why did Farore and Hylia  _ let _ me? Are they not goddesses? Do they not intervene? Something tells me that the people of Hyrule had fallen lax in their ways, turning to evil. Is that something a memory or an imprint of a gut feeling from long ago? Who’s to say?. Did Nayru see this and deal out her righteous judgement as she has done for Hyrule in the past? Did Farore plead for the people of Hyrule, is that why I still live? 

     I don’t know  _ why _ I am alive. Goddesses, why? Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this burden and to deserve to live? I guess I will never know. I need to get out of the Domain. The King and Sidon were more than welcoming, almost familiar to me. It turns out, I was almost family. I still cannot wrap my head around that fact. They presented me with the armor crafted by Mipha’s hand, but I am extremely uncomfortable wearing it. I wore it for the fight against Va Ruta and the Scourge, but I have not put it on since. I felt as if I was a prince of the Zoras, and that felt wrong to even think, much less be true. While the Zora people accepted me, I felt like I was a plague on their people. Their princess died in that beast, and I cannot even remember whose fault that was! And the most stunning thing about these people, is that they  _ forgave _ me. They even apologized for being bitter and angry with me, and they had every right to be. I broke my usual stoic and silent persona to wipe tears from my eyes and tell Sidon and his father, as well as the elder that much. The kindness in their eyes reminded me of Mipha’s, and after just seeing her spirit, I broke down crying. 

     I need to leave. I bought a house in Hateno Village after winning several games of snowball bowling and several thousand rupees from the ever-friendly Pondo. I also had Bolson Construction completely outfit the old home for me, which was several hundred more rupees, but the investment is quite worth it. I now have a place to lay my head, and a place to run to. I know leaving is the coward’s way out, but I can’t take staying in the Domain much longer, even though I have been offered lodgings for the remainder of my life. 

     Everytime I close my eyes, I see Mipha’s spirit. I see a woman who didn’t have to die, who meant... _ something _ to me, who I could not protect. My heart broke when I remembered everything. It made this failure that weighs me down not just a heavy burden, but a crushing force. I am leaving the Domain tonight. After I reach Hateno, who knows where I’ll go?


	4. Broken Musings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link tries to heal in Hateno Village, living a simple life like he barely remembers leading as a child and young teen. However, the broken heart takes more than time to heal. Perhaps a bit of introspection and a sense of purpose brought on by new memories will begin his heart anew.

     I have been in Hateno Village for fourteen suns, and every day new memories return to me. I simply have not been able to look at myself in the mirror. Purah sent Symin to check on me, but with one look, he left me to my own devices. I know I have to face the fact that I  _ failed _ and that people died because of it. Thousands of lives that were lost are on  _ my  _ head. I can’t do this. This quest, it wasn’t meant for the failure, for the mute, for the man who killed his fellow brothers in arms and the people he was supposed to protect. I have spent the last few suns living the life of a simple villager, one that minds his own business and generally helps out the town. It is nice, but my body is always primed for the fight, and I have already cleared out all of the monsters of the forests and the road to the village so I have nothing with which I may quell the anxiety. I am just waiting for an attack that won’t happen until the next blood moon. 

     With the few memories that have returned to me, I can tell that I have spent my life fighting, whether it was bullies as a child or monsters as the Princess’ appointed knight. I have never known real peace, a comfortable home where I could relax, even on the small farm my family managed. Seeing... _ her _ statue brought back many memories of life as the son of a royal guardsman turned ambassador to the Zora. My entire life I was expected to perform, to be the paragon that my father was, that his father was, back and back and back even unto the era of the Hero of Time. It is a fuzzy memory, but I remember a coat of arms given by the Princess of the era of Twilight, before time healed itself. The family words I can remember clearly:  _ in saecula saeculorum defende _ . It is ancient Hylian and translated as  _ defend unto the age of ages _ . 

     Thinking on that, I feel ashamed. It is a familial oath, saying that even though we do not want to fight, that though it isn’t easy, that though it isn’t comfortable, that though it may cost us our lives, we will come to the aid of those who need us. I can’t stay in this happy, safe little village any longer, no matter how much I want to. My ancestors, my father, even the ancient heroes of time and twilight, were much like myself. We lived a simple life until called by duty to the guard or to questing. My father was a royal ambassador, yet I lived on a small little farm as a ranch hand when not in the Domain. My father died protecting the king.The Hero of Time gave up seven years of his life and later all his accolades and prestige to not only defeat Ganondorf who destroyed Hyrule, but to prevent it from happening in the first place. His descendant, the Hero of Twilight, battled an even stronger, twilight infused Ganondorf, sealing him away once more. They did not run from their destiny. They did not run from their duty. Who am I to say it is not fair when others have been dealt worse cards? Who am I to rage against the heavens? 

     I do not run from my duty. I cannot remember the surname on my family’s coat of arms, but I will heed its words from so long ago. I will not run. I will save every last child of the goddesses, even if it means going to the ends of the earth. I will save the souls of the departed champions from their chains in the divine beasts, even if I can’t remember what they meant to me. I owe that to my ancestors who fought the good fight. I owe that to those citizens of Hyrule who lost their lives, who lost loved ones. But most of all I owe that to Mipha. 

     If I am honest, even after all of this thinking, I am still just as broken as I was when I found out about...Mipha. Hearing of Zelda and her current struggle never makes it any better either. Hopefully when I leave at the first light of the second sun, I will be able to look myself in the mirror. Farore, grant me courage to leave the comfortable. I will travel to the Rito village next, I can only pray that I will have the courage to face Revali’s people. Maybe after that, I won’t be so broken. Nayru, grant me peace. Din, grant me strength. Farore, grant me the courage to see another sunrise. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wanted to explain a bit of my thoughts on the timeline and Link's past. Since it is obvious that Nintendo won't ever clarify either, I must theorize. If Hylia can create gates through time, I must conjecture that one of her powers revolves around time. If this is so, then the splitting of the timeline in Ocarina makes more sense. Perhaps all of Link's use of the time travel magic is what truly separates the timeline. I believe that down the line, time would either a) heal itself like the body healing a wound or b) the goddesses decided that it was time to unify the timeline again. The former seems more likely, however it could be a combination of the two. Also, my personal headcanon is that Link is always someone who has to rise to a station of significance, and isn’t born to it. Once the royal guard is formed for BOTW, this tradition for his family continues in raising their children as “common” on the farm. Also, I have this BOTW Link as knowingly having the blood of the OoT and TP Links so as to give Zelda’s initial take on Link as a man who didn’t have to work for anything more credence. In the Mipha flashback atop Vah Ruta, we are told that Link and Mipha met when he was a small child. As such, I wanted Link to have a purpose being there as well as some emotional baggage of his own much similar to how Zelda struggles with her role and performance of her duties. Link seems like that character who didn’t turn out bitter from his past experiences, even though he has been hurt a lot. Long AN, but I thought this was relevant to this chapter.


End file.
